A Spork in the Drawer

More McSame

Gosh, it's a good thing that St. John hates lobbyists:

Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers.

Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks.

[...]

Betts is among a string of donors who have benefited from McCain-engineered land swaps. In 1994, the senator helped a lobbyist for land developer Del Webb Corp. pursue an exchange in the Las Vegas area, according to the Center for Public Integrity. McCain sponsored two bills, in 1991 and 1994, sought by donor Donald R. Diamond that yielded the developer thousands of acres in trade for national parkland.

[...]

As McCain positions himself as a champion of environmental causes, observers of the Yavapai Ranch swap say it shows a paradox in the senator's positions.

"Paradox"? Wouldn't it bee more accurate to just call McCain a fraud?

McCain also has been critical of government's "revolving door," which allows former government officials to position themselves as influential lobbyists. Rogers said that McCain does not recall being lobbied by his former staff members on the land swap and that "no lobbyist influenced Senator McCain on this issue."

Somebody should tell St. John about his top advisor Charlie Black.

Is the Senator involved in fleecing the American taxpayer?

A town official opposed to the swap said other Yavapai Ranch land sold nine years ago for about $2,000 per acre, while some of the prime commercial land near a parcel that the developers will get has brought as much as $120,000 per acre.

Heavens! That's an awful lot of Straight Talk!

Perhaps the corporate media will take notice of this hypocrisy.

When pigs fly.

As a side note, one of the people involved in this ripoff is Carl H. Lindner Jr of Chiquita Banana infamy.

St. John has some nice friends, no?

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It's Called "Bribery"

The FAA at work:

The manager of the federal office that oversees Southwest Airlines accepted thousands of dollars in free pilot training from the carrier under an arrangement that violates rules of conduct, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.

[...]

The training Hedlund received would cost a private citizen $15,000 or more, according to the officials and flight schools. It also would enhance a résumé, opening doors for employment at airlines or other private aviation firms. The FAA officials who testified at the hearing called the arrangement a conflict of interest.

Southwest claims that this was all "part of his routine duties" and denies that there are any ethical questions here.

Yah, right.

The FAA says that the matter is "under investigation."

Yah, right.

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Catapulting The Propaganda

Yes, it's 11 pages long but this will be - at least should be - the major news story for the next week.

It's a bit more important the flag lapel pins.

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No One Could Have Predicted

That BushCo™ would go easy on corrupt corporations:

In a major shift of policy, the Justice Department, once known for taking down giant corporations, including the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, has put off prosecuting more than 50 companies suspected of wrongdoing over the last three years.

[...]

Deferred prosecutions have become a favorite tool of the Bush administration. But some legal experts now wonder if the policy shift has led companies, in particular financial institutions now under investigation for their roles in the subprime mortgage debacle, to test the limits of corporate anti-fraud laws.

Nooooo...do ya think?

I love this bit:

Monsanto, for example, while not admitting guilt, agreed to abstain from further violations of bribery laws.

"Yes, Mr. Prosecutor, I stabbed that man to death but I promise not to do it again."

"Well OK then. On your way."

Meanwhile:

Since the late 1990's average incomes have declined 2.5 percent for families on the bottom fifth of the country's economic ladder, while incomes have increased 9.1 percent for families on the top fifth, said the report from the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Economic Policy Institute.

The result is that the average incomes of the top five percent of families are 12 times the average incomes of the bottom 20 percent.

Gotta strengthen that oligarchy, don't'cha know.

The end of this administration can't come soon enough.

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Show Trial

One of the administration's political show trials ends with a hung jury. BushCo's™ own Andrei Vyshinsky Mary Beth Buchanan, however, has already announced a new trial set for 27 May.

This is a major embarrassment for Buchanan and her masters.

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Cui Bono?

They're not even pretending anymore:

The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by the EPA.

EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under the law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA's scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the agency to increase the limit, according to the documents.

[...]

Solicitor General Paul D. Clement warned administration officials late Tuesday night that the rules contradicted the EPA's past submissions to the Supreme Court, according to sources familiar with the conversation. As a consequence, administration lawyers hustled to craft new legal justifications for the weakened standard.

[...]

The effort to rewrite the language -- on the day the agency faced a statutory deadline -- forced EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson to postpone at the last moment a scheduled news conference to announce the new rules. It finally took place at 6 p.m., five hours later than planned.

[...]

Lisa Heinzerling, a Georgetown University law professor who specializes in the Clean Air Act, said Dudley's letter to the EPA represents "a misunderstanding of the statute, a misunderstanding of Supreme Court precedent and a misunderstanding of the science as the expert agency understands it."

The truly damaging thing is that the next president - even a Democrat - won't seek to hold anyone accountable. We have to move forward and not dwell on the past, don't'cha know. Granted, the number of criminal and civil trials that would be needed to set things right would cause the justice system to collapse under the sheer weight of it all. Nonetheless, by allowing this - and so many other - outrages to stand legitimizes them.

I blame Gerald Ford.

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Another Day...

...another Republican criminal:

Republican Rep. Rick Renzi has been indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona.

But wait, there's more! Via Laura Rozen, Renzi has a mysterious background:

For a national political figure who served on the powerful House Intelligence Committee, Renzi's background is, as described by Wikipedia, "unclear."

[...]

Exactly what Renzi did for the next two decades is blurry. He has said he worked overseas for the Defense Department, but research turned up no information on which agency, where he was assigned or what duties he had.

Gee, do ya think Renzi might have been/might be a spook?

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Oh Yeah...

I suppose I should mention that alleged Democrats Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jim Webb (D-VA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) this afternoon stripped us of our rights to benefit Bush, Cheney, and the telecommunications industry.

I hope they spend their thirty pieces of silver wisely.

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Just Go Away, FCC

Rather than serve as simply a regulator of the public airwaves the Federal Communications Commission these days serves to help large corporations become larger. (This was true under the Clinton Regime as well.) But aside from that it seems the FCC's only other purpose is to engage in Comstockery. So it comes a no surprise to see this:

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $1.4 million fine against 52 ABC Television Network stations over a 2003 broadcast of cop drama NYPD Blue.

[...]

ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co. The fines were issued against 52 stations either owned by or affiliated with the network.

FCC's definition of indecent content requires that the broadcast "depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities" in a "patently offensive way" and is aired between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

The agency said the show was indecent because "it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs — specifically an adult woman's buttocks."

In the FCC's reasoning concentrating media power into fewer and fewer hands is a good thing. A bare ass is the death of the Republic.

That's some good thinking.

Then there's this:

The agency rejected the network's argument that "the buttocks are not a sexual organ."

That Kevin Martin et al think that the "buttocks" are a sexual organ tells me a great deal.

More than I want to know, frankly.

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Friend Of Rudy

Bernie Kerik indicted.

I'll let watertiger have this one.

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The Pictures Say It All

He Who Must Not Be Questioned with a convicted criminal and alleged Iranian spy:

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Numismatics

Despite their utter spinelessness I still prefer the Democrats control Congress rather than the Repubs. That said, the Dem majority is due in part to idiots like this:

A House Democrat is looking to overturn a recent U.S. Treasury ban on melting pennies to extract the copper, a move that could help the vulnerable freshman while costing taxpayers a million dollars a day.

The bill's sponsor is Democrat Zack Space of Ohio, who won a normally reliable Republican seat last fall after the GOP incumbent, Bob Ney, did not seek re-election after being involved in a corruption scandal that led to a prison sentence.

Space says his proposal is aimed at benefiting a company in his district, Jackson Metals, whose president says he would employ 30 people if he were allowed to melt down pre-1982 pennies, which are 95% copper.

[...]

In December, the U.S. Treasury issued a ban on melting pennies and nickels because precious metals prices had soared to the point that the coins themselves exceeded their face value. The Treasury said the cost of replacing those coins "could well be in excess of $1 million a day," the U.S. Mint said in the Federal Register.

You and me could to lose as much as $1,000,000 a day so this twit can help out some pals. Great.

And just what the hell is it with Ohio and coins? Remember this scandal:

Since 1998, Ohio has invested millions of dollars in the unregulated world of rare coins, buying nickels, dimes, and pennies.

Controlling the money for the state? Prominent local Republican and coin dealer Tom Noe, whose firm made more than $1 million off the deal last year alone.

As I recall it, Noe was sent to prison and the scandal helped bring down the Repub leadership in Ohio.

Anyway, if Nancy Pelosi is smart she'll slap down Space's legislation. Enough with this sort of crap already.

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Good Work If You Can Get It

I have never done one single thing to lose Merrill Lynch $8,000,000,000 so why don't they just give me as much as $250,000,000?

I mean, given the facts, I'm more deserving than Stanley O'Neal.

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You Can't Keep A Corrupt Iraqi Down

Judy Miller's favorite:

Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq.

His latest job: To press Iraq's central government to use early security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That's the next phase of the surge plan. Until now, the U.S. military, various militias, insurgents and some U.S. backed groups have provided those services without great success.

[...]

Chalabi "is an important part of the process," said Col. Steven Boylan, Petraeus' spokesman. "He has a lot of energy."

Never mind that Chalabi, among other things, is suspected of spying for Iran. He's the neocon's boy until the end.

As a side note, the Col. Steven Boylan mentioned above had a bizarre e-mail exchange with Glenn Greenwald yesterday. Col. Boylan might not be all that right in the head.

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And On It Rolls...

More flat-earthism from BushCo™:

The White House severely edited congressional testimony given Tuesday by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the impact of climate change on health, removing specific scientific references to potential health risks, according to two sources familiar with the documents. [Emphasis added.]

[...]

"It was eviscerated," said a CDC official, familiar with both versions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the review process.

The official said that while it is customary for testimony to be changed in a White House review, these changes were particularly "heavy-handed," with the document cut from its original 14 pages to four. It was six pages as presented to the Senate committee.

We can't have actual, y'know, facts and data. They might cut into somebody's profits. And facts and data will prevent the triumphant return of the Baby Jesus!

It's just another day in BushCheney's America.

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Who's Supporting Terrorism?

All because of bananas:

On April 24, 2003, a board member of Chiquita International Brands disclosed to a top official at the Justice Department that the king of the banana trade was evidently breaking the nation's anti-terrorism laws.

Roderick M. Hills, who had sought the meeting with former law firm colleague Michael Chertoff, explained that Chiquita was paying "protection money" to a Colombian paramilitary group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations. Hills said he knew that such payments were illegal, according to sources and court records, but said that he needed Chertoff's advice.

Chiquita, Hills said, would have to pull out of the country if it could not continue to pay the violent right-wing group to secure its Colombian banana plantations. Chertoff, then assistant attorney general and now secretary of homeland security, affirmed that the payments were illegal but said to wait for more feedback, according to five sources familiar with the meeting.

But since Chiquita was paying money to right-wing killers it wasn't terrorism because right-wingers by definition can't be terrorists. Heck, if St. Ronnie Reagan were alive he'd probably call the paramilitaries "the moral equal of our Founding Fathers."

But legal sources on both sides say there was a genuine debate within the Justice Department about the seriousness of the crime of paying AUC. For some high-level administration officials, Chiquita's payments were not aiding an obvious terrorism threat such as al-Qaeda; instead, the cash was going to a violent South American group helping a major U.S. company maintain a stabilizing presence in Colombia.

See? These terrorists are a stabilizing force.

Chiquita Brands Intl. has a long history of evil acts, including crushing the Cincinnati Enquirer for daring to expose its crimes.

Continuing with the WaPo:

Then, on April 24, the company executives met with Justice officials, including Chertoff. They disclosed the payments and Justice officials said they were against the law. Hills said he agreed, but stressed that Chiquita would have to withdraw from the country if it did not pay AUC, and noted this could affect U.S. security interests in that region.

That's when, according to the five sources, Chertoff acknowledged that the matter was complicated, and said that he would get back to them after conferring with other administration officials.

A week later, Hills and Olson told the company board's audit committee that Justice had advised them that there would be "no liability for past conduct" and that there was no "conclusion on continuing the payments," according to a summary of the case filed by the prosecution. The company authorized new payments to AUC starting on May 5.

It's good to have friends among the Bush Crime Syndicate.

The attorney general of Colombia, Mario Iguaran, and other Colombian officials have dismissed Chiquita's assertions that it was a victim of extortion and paid AUC to protect its workers. An Organization of American States report in 2003 said that Chiquita participated in smuggling thousands of arms for paramilitaries into the Northern Uraba region, using docks operated by the company to unload thousands of Central American assault rifles and ammunition.

Iguaran, whose office has been investigating Chiquita's operations, said the company knew AUC was using payoffs and arms to fund operations against peasants, union workers and rivals. At the time of the payments, AUC was growing into a powerful army and was expanding across much of Colombia and, according to the Colombian government, its soldiers killed thousands before it began demobilizing.

To paraphrase an old saying, one company's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.

And here I thought situational ethics were a bad thing. Silly me.

"I'm Chiquita banana and I've come to say -
I'm gonna kill you if
I don't get my way."

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More And More And More

Lining pockets:

Lawmakers say that at the FDA, many of the bonuses went to the highest-paid officials rather than the scientists, inspectors and doctors most at risk of jumping to the private sector. To critics, the payments bore little relationship to the agency's performance and reputation or to the likelihood that someone might depart. Agency officials disagree and call the program a success.

Federal workers in Washington make an average of about $88,000 a year. As a result of the bonuses, scores of FDA managers and employees earn double that and more -- pay in some cases greater than that of members of Congress, federal judges and Cabinet secretaries, according to the data shared with Congress.

[...]

The commissioner's office -- which mostly includes policy officials and not practicing scientists -- nearly doubled the amount of its retention bonuses, from about $415,000 in 2002 to nearly $800,000 last year, the data also show.

As usual, the people who actually do the work and the taxpayers get screwed while the political operators get rich.

Sums up the BushCheney Era quite well.

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And Yet More

Why the citizenry hasn't marched on the White House with pitchforks and torches is beyond me:

The night before the government secured a guilty plea from the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, a senior Justice Department official called the U.S. attorney handling the case and, at the behest of an executive for the drugmaker, urged him to slow down, the prosecutor told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.

John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney in Roanoke, testified that he was at home the evening of Oct. 24 when he received the call on his cellphone from Michael J. Elston, then chief of staff to the deputy attorney general and one of the Justice aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

Brownlee settled the case anyway. Eight days later, his name appeared on a list compiled by Elston of prosecutors that officials had suggested be fired.

Brownlee ultimately kept his job. But as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales confronts withering criticism over the dismissals, the episode in the OxyContin case provides fresh evidence of efforts by senior officials in the department's headquarters to sway the work of U.S. attorneys' offices.

On the other hand, it's all so mind-numbing. We all have a limited supply of outrage and perhaps people have simply shut down.

Prison is too good for these criminals.

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A Note To Senators

When your house is raided by agents of the FBI and IRS that's generally not a good thing.

Just sayin'

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Christ, It Never Ends

How long are people going to put up with shit like this?

A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.

The report described the link between poverty and poor health, urged the U.S. government to help combat widespread diseases as a key aim of its foreign policy, and called on corporations to help improve health conditions in the countries where they operate. A copy of the report was obtained by The Washington Post.

Three people directly involved in its preparation said its publication was blocked by William R. Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history whose family has long ties to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Since 2001, Steiger has run the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services.

[...]

Carmona told lawmakers that, as he fought to release the document, he was "called in and again admonished . . . via a senior official who said, 'You don't get it.' " He said a senior official told him that "this will be a political document, or it will not be released."

[...]

Steiger, 37, is a godson of former president George H.W. Bush and the son of a moderate Republican who represented Wisconsin in the House and hired a young Dick Cheney as an intern. The elder Bush appointed Steiger's mother to the Federal Trade Commission in 1989. A biographical sketch of her on the American Bar Association's Web site states that Steiger's parents, now deceased, were "lifelong friends" of many members of the same congressional class, including the Rumsfelds and the Bushes.

I've never been an isolationist but I'm starting think that our country is so broken that it may be time for us to withdraw from the world as much as possible and concentrate on fixing ourselves.

I shudder to think how long it's going to take to repair the damage wrought by the current administration. Indeed, I'm not entirely sure it can be fixed. Not a cheery thought but there you are.

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Then Again

Why are our troops fighting and dying for Iraq?

Iraq’s national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects, forcing the United States either to hand them over to local Iraqis, who often lack the proper training and resources to keep the projects running, or commit new money to an effort that has already consumed billions of taxpayer dollars.

[...]

The process of transferring projects to Iraq “worked for a while,” Mr. Bowen said. But then the new government took over and installed its finance minister, Bayan Jabr, who has been a continuing center of controversy in his various government posts and is formally in charge of the transfers.

“After Mr. Jabr took over, that process ceased to function,” Mr. Bowen said.

[...]

The report was released too late in the day to contact Mr. Jabr, who is part of a Shiite alliance in charge of the government. In his previous position as interior minister, he was accused of running Shiite death squads out of the ministry. In his current position he has developed a reputation as being slow to release budget money to Iraqi government entities, which would have to run the new projects at substantial expense.

He is sometimes suspected of seeking to use his position to undermine the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who is also a Shiite but answers to a different faction within the alliance. In interviews, Mr. Jabr has rejected those accusations and says he strongly supports the government.

Really, after a while it all becomes mind-numbing.

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Special Prosecutor?

Senate Dems:

Three Senate Democrats called on the Justice Department's Solicitor General to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether or not Attorney General Alberto Gonzales committed perjury in Congressional testimony on the Bush administration's domestic spying program.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) harshly criticized the Attorney General in the Thursday Capitol Hill press conference.

"His inability to answer simple and straight forward questions was stunning," Schumer said. "His instinct is not to tell the truth, but to dissemble and deceive."

[...]

Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is giving Gonzales until next week to change his testimony or face a perjury investigation. However Schumer told CNN, "I would like to see an investigation occur right away."

We've already seen one special prosecutor during this administration:

...who won of conviction of this guy:

...who, in turn, was immediately had his sentenced commuted by this guy:

...and that process took 3 1/2 years.

A special prosecutor is merely a time-waster for those who value the law and the Constitution. And a special prosecutor will take enough time so that George can simply pardon Abu as he prepares to leave the White House.

Just like his daddy.

Senate Democrats: Drop this idea and try something that might actually work. Impeachment comes to mind. Otherwise just go back to doing what you do best: Being spineless bloviators.

---

ADDED: Marcy Wheeler add details and (unlike me) intelligently explains why a special prosecutor is a bad idea.

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The Cavalcade Of Corruption Continues

How long are people going to put up with this?

White House aides have conducted at least half a dozen political briefings for the Bush administration's top diplomats, including a PowerPoint presentation for ambassadors with senior adviser Karl Rove that named Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat in 2008 and a "general political briefing" at the Peace Corps headquarters after the 2002 midterm elections.

The briefings, mostly run by Rove's deputies at the White House political affairs office, began in early 2001 and included detailed analyses for senior officials of the political landscape surrounding critical congressional and gubernatorial races, according to documents obtained by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

[...]

"We believe that these briefings were entirely appropriate," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "They conformed with all the applicable regulations."

Meanwhile, Abu Gonzo says he's going to fix everything.

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Cheney Determined To Strike In US

The WaPo digs up some details about DeFib Dick's secret energy meetings. One participant can't figure out all the secrecy:

"I never knew why they fought so hard to keep it secret," said Charles A. Samuels, outside counsel to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which participated in a March 13 meeting to discuss the idea of tax credits for super-efficient appliances. "I am sure the vast majority of the meetings were very policy-oriented meetings -- exactly what should take place."

Because, Mr. Samuels, Dick believes he is accountable only to himself. After all, he has decided that even the number of people - and their names - who work for him is a state secret.

Because, Mr. Samuels, Dick Cheney is a paranoid megalomaniac.

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In A Nutshell

Paul Kiel:

"I took an oath to the president, and I take that oath very seriously," Sara Taylor said in answer to a question early in the hearing.

And right after a break, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked her if she was sure about that. "Did you mean, perhaps, you took an oath to the Constitution?" Leahy asked. It was a telling exchange.

Bush Über Alles!

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It's Very Simple

If Harriet Miers refuses to appear before Congress then chuck her ass into the pokey for contempt.

As Pat Leahy asks, “What is the White House trying to hide?”

---

ADDED: Marty Lederman examines what Congress can do and Cass Sunstein explains the legal confusion over "executive privilege."

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That's One Way, I Suppose

China:

Moving to address mounting concerns about the safety of its exports, China announced Tuesday that it had executed the former head of its food and drug safety agency for accepting bribes in exchange for approving substandard medicines.

Here in the US we punish corrupt government officials with high-paying private sector jobs.

Perhaps we can find a happy medium? Prison, maybe?

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Bush To Congress:

Drop dead:

President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.

Still, you have to admit that the White House is generous:

The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.

Ah, yes, the old "off-the-record-no-swearing-in-so-there's-no-perjury" plan.

And it will likely work.

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It Is To Laugh

Both dishonest and whiny:

[Presidential spokesman Scott] Stanzel stopped short of accusing Congress of being overzealous in its oversight role.

"I would say they have a lot to show in terms of activity and requests and letter-writing, and that sort of thing," he said, "but not much to show in the way of real legislation — whether it's legislation on health care, education, comprehensive immigration reform."

Scott, dear heart, it's the Republicans who have been blocking all of those initiatives. Do try and keep up.

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Another Day...

...another set of impeachable offenses.

Yawn.

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We All Know How This Is Going To Work Out

Sara Taylor and Harriet "Love Letters" Miers subpoenaed:

Subpoenas are being issued to two former White House officials, the first to be subpoenaed in the fired U.S. attorneys investigation.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday issued a subpoena to Sara Taylor, former White House political director. About the same time, it was announced that the House Judiciary Committee will issue a subpoena in the same case to former White House counsel Harriet Miers.

It's this simple: a Congressional committee issued a subpoena, the White House will fight it (in court, if necessary), and the clock will go tick-tock tick-tock until January, 2009. The next administration, even if it's a Democratic one, will let the matter drop explaining, "We want to look forward not focus on the past."

And in the future, when this all happens again, even fewer people will give a damn.

Rinse. Repeat.

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We Have A Problem

Government scandals. Too many of them.

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Senator Series Of Tubes Has A Problem

Whoops:

The recent FBI corruption investigation has widened to include U.S. Senator Ted Stevens.

[...]

"I put out a statement, the statements there and it says I do not comment on things that are under investigation. Thank you," Stevens said.

[Via JMM.]

WaPo:

"They put me on notice to preserve some records," Stevens said in a brief interview about his legal team's discussions with the FBI. He declined to say what kinds of records were involved but confirmed that he had hired lawyers and that his son, former state Senate president Ben Stevens, "is also under investigation."

.

Losing The Advantage

Congressional Dems had better move fast:

Republicans moved Tuesday to seek Rep. William J. Jefferson’s expulsion from the House, a day after the Louisiana Democrat was indicted on charges of receiving more than $500,000 in bribes.

[...]

Republicans, citing Pelosi’s election-season promise to run the most ethical House in history, sought Jefferson’s expulsion from the chamber, possibly before he comes to trial on the bribery charges.

While the hypocrisy of the GOP is to be expected, they can still be able to claim the high road on one of their most vulnerable points - a complete lack of ethics. (Remember one of Karl Rove's favored and successful tactics: attack your opponent for your own vulnerabilities.)

Fair or not, Jefferson has to go and if he refuses to resign Nancy Pelosi et al had better move to expel him immediately.

Then tell John Murtha and his crowd to shut up and get moving on true ethics reform.

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From Cold Cash To A Cold Jail Cell

What with all of the Repub corruption it's easy to forget that the Dems can be corrupt as well:

Rep. William J. Jefferson was indicted today in a longstanding FBI corruption probe centering on allegations that he took bribes to promote high-tech business ventures in Africa.

The Louisiana Democrat faces charges that include racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy to solicit bribes by a public official. The 16-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in Alexandria.

You might remember Jefferson was the one with $90,000 in his freezer.

At the very least Pelosi should strip him of his committee assignments as son a possible. Congress as whole can also vote to expel him. Something to think about.

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Baroody Speaks!

Ethically challenged would-have-been chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Michael Baroody defends his "honor":

Much has been made, and made up, of reports about my severance agreement with the National Association of Manufacturers ["Nominee to Head Consumer Product Agency Withdraws," In the Loop, May 24]. It is important to note that such reports could be written in the first place only because, despite promised confidentiality, a copy of my ethics agreement "was provided by a Democratic Congressional aide," according to a May 16 news story in the New York Times.

I disclosed the anticipated severance payment in confidential filings on the basis of which the director of the Office of Government Ethics wrote the Senate Commerce Committee that "we believe that Mr. Baroody is in compliance with applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest."

Further, the agreement was originally signed in January 2006, six months before any vacancy occurred at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 10 months before discussions began and 14 months before the nomination itself. As I told senators who inquired, the agreement had two essential elements: a dollar amount and a date certain for leaving NAM. As the date certain in January 2007 approached, the agreement was amended to allow for a later date. The severance amount was not changed, however, and according to that amended agreement, since January of this year I have been in unpaid status at NAM, though continuing to receive employee benefits for which I will reimburse NAM the employee portion of cost.

The Post reported "outrage stemming from news reports" about this agreement. Outrage should be directed at the leak, which breached not just my reasonable expectation of confidentiality and proper privacy safeguards but the explicit promise of same -- offering yet another regrettably chilling example that will cause potential future nominees for posts in government to think twice, or maybe three times, before taking the risk.

MICHAEL E. BAROODY
Executive Vice President
National Association of Manufacturers
Washington

Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's right. Anyway, we're talking about a regulatory agency here; Given Baroody's current position and his vehement opposition to regulation he shouldn't have even been considered for the job. Of course, his conflict of interest made him a practically perfect BushCo™ nominee.

And it's interesting to note that rather acknowledge this conflict of interest he directs his ire at being exposed. It's reminiscent of Field Marshal von Rumsfeld's anger at cell phone cameras rather than the abuse at Abu Graib.

Baroody aside, that such information is considered confidential is an abomination. There's another change that needs to be made, although I don't expect Democrats to be any better on this issue.

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Deaf And Blind

Eugene Robinson:

Everyone else who was listening Wednesday had to be flabbergasted as Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee -- apparently having been struck deaf and blind -- lobbed softball after softball at witness Monica Goodling. This was after Goodling had already 'fessed up to applying a political litmus test for career Justice employees. I repeat: career employees, not political appointees. Only loyal Republicans should bother to apply.

The deaf and blind Republicans on the committee apparently missed that part of her opening statement. They also missed the part when she accused Gonzales's former deputy, Paul McNulty, of telling untruths to Congress -- and, in the process, hanging Goodling out to dry. Those dogged GOP interrogators did, however, manage to elicit from Goodling the startling disclosure that she believes she is a good person and also the revelation that while she might have broken a few laws, she didn't set out to do anything illegal.

[...]

Did all this fly over the heads of the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee? Of course not. But House Republicans evidently have made the cynical political calculation that to acknowledge reality would be to grant the Democrats some sort of victory. This, apparently, must be avoided at all costs.

Of course the they're cynical; the only thing the modern Republican Party cares about is power. Authoritarians to the core, they subscribe whole-heartedly to a strange code:

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Normal people call this "delusional."

Whether cynical or delusional, or both, the failure to recognize reality (real reality) alone should disqualify the Republican Party (in it's current form) from holding any position of power. Sane Republicans (if such an animal still exists) should either reform their party or quit and create a new conservative party.

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Withdrawn

Remember Michael Baroody? The guy from the National Association of Manufacturers who was going to head up the Consumer Product Safety Commission? Who would be "regulating" the people who pay him? That Michael Baroody? Buh-bye:

President Bush's pick to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission withdrew his nomination Wednesday amid strong opposition from some Senate Democrats because of his career as a manufacturers' lobbyist.

The White House said it was reluctantly accepting the decision by Michael Baroody after "some members in the Senate rushed to judgment."

With this corrupt administration rushing to judgment is the wise thing to do.

NAM President John Engler said Baroody was the victim of an "unprincipled smear campaign ... aided and abetted by unethical release of his financial records."

"Watching this abuse of process, apparently without consequence for the wrongdoers, makes me wonder why any qualified citizen would submit to run today's Senate gauntlet," Engler said in a statement.

Screw you, John Engler. Maybe if BushCo™ wasn't so intent on appointing corrupt lackies the Senate would confirm more of them.

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Can't Catch A Break

Bad days for the Notorious Comb-Licker:

PAUL Wolfowitz has really had a bad couple of weeks. He not only lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, too.

[...]

Sources say Riza, a brilliant feminist with a promising diplomatic career, was upset by all the publicity and the implication that she was getting ahead with the help of a powerful man. "She was furious about the embarrassment," said one source.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

(Yeah, yeah, I know. New York Post.)

[Via Think Progress.]

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Now That's Funny!

The Notorious Comb-Licker attempts to make nice with World Bank employees:

Wolfowitz said he would try and reach out to meet individually with staff.

"After reaching a difficult consensus yesterday, it is vitally important that we work together to restore calm and confidence and encourage the staff to focus on their important work," Wolfowitz said, adding that he had been flooded with phone calls of support from staff and people he met in his two years at the bank.

However, employee comments posted on an internal Web site suggested little appetite to speak with the former deputy U.S. defense secretary.

"Please just leave. You can take all your loyal employees with you. Who are you kidding?" one anonymous employee wrote.

That anonymous employee could be speaking for the overwhelming majority of Americans in regards to BushCo™.

[Via Think Progress.]

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Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

Buh bye:

"I am announcing today that I will resign as president of the World Bank Group effective at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2007)," Wolfowitz said in a statement Thursday.

Now if only we could do something about all of those other long national nightmares...

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More Trouble For BushCo™

As much as I'm loathe to link to Novakula this could be big:

On the day presidential senior adviser Karl Rove administered a tongue-lashing to a Republican congressman, disturbing news about his former executive assistant was spread on Capitol Hill. GOP House members learned that Susan Ralston is requesting immunity to testify before Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman's investigating committee.

She was an assistant to Jack Abramoff, Washington super-lobbyist and Republican fundraiser, in 2001 when he recommended her for the top job with Rove as he entered the White House. As Rove's gatekeeper, Susan Bonzon Ralston became special assistant to the president and the highest-ranking Filipino American in the administration. For Waxman, she is a link between the disgraced, imprisoned Abramoff and Rove, a principal political target of the Democratic-controlled Congress.

[...]

Ralston told one Republican on the committee last week that her lawyers wanted her to seek immunity, and another GOP committee member told me she is doing so. According to her friends, she has nothing to say that would cause problems for Rove. Her request for immunity, they explained, resulted from caution by her attorneys. It was forwarded to the Justice Department, whose recommendation may or may not be followed by Congress.

Regardless of what she's telling Republicans, if Ralston tells all she knows she could bring Rove down. It's that simple.

Unless she plans on lying under oath. Which is a distinct possibility with these cultists.

(And I'm amused by Novakula calling Henry Waxman the "Grand Inquisitor." If I were Waxman I'd have a nameplate made up with that title on it.)

Then we have this bit:

Many of these congressmen believe that Rove should have quit when he was ahead as manager of the two Bush elections and left in January 2005. However, they do not want to see him limp out of Washington with his scalp hanging on Henry Waxman's belt. "We're not hostile to the administration," one prominent conservative House member who did not want his name used told me. "We just want it to be over."

O anonymous prominent conservative House member, if you want the this administration to be over you're going to have to show some hostility and join with the Democrats to end it. You can't have it both ways.

It's that simple.

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It's His Story...

...and he's sticking to it:

The Justice Department said yesterday that it will not retract a sworn statement in 2006 by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the Terrorist Surveillance Program had aroused no controversy inside the Bush administration, despite congressional testimony Tuesday that senior departmental officials nearly resigned in 2004 to protest such a program.

So they're going to let the perjured statements stand.

Par for the course these days.

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How Many More Shoes To Drop?

26:

The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.

[...]

One memo sent to Sampson last November from Michael J. Elston, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, suggested firing Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, who supervised the nation's prosecutors for a year and now heads the Office on Violence Against Women, sources said.

[...]

Another prosecutor, Anna Mills Wagoner of Greensboro, N.C., is included on three lists. Documents show that Monica M. Goodling, a Gonzales aide set to testify next week in Congress, removed her from consideration because of her work prosecuting gun crimes.

So more evidence of perjury by Abu. And Monica, a dim twinkie from a fourth-rate law school, wanted to fire a USA for actually, y'know, prosecuting crimes.

I don't think we've yet seen the true dimensions of the crowd's corruption and moral depravity.

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Hey! Guess What?

The BushCheney Administration is corrupt:

A Texas businessman listed as a major fundraiser for President George Bush has made millions of dollars in profits from a federal reading program that critics say favored administration cronies at the expense of schoolchildren.

A company founded and owned by Randy Best, who is listed by the nonprofit group Public Citizen as a Bush "Pioneer" during the 2000 presidential campaign, received the lucrative contracts under a Bush administration initiative called Reading First.

[...]

After receiving the Reading First contracts, Best was able to sell his company, Voyager Expanded Learning, for $360 million. According to his critics, the company was valued at only $5 million a few years earlier, a figure Best disputes.

Everyday brings more news of corruption and perfidy from these ruinous jackasses. It wears one down after a while.

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On The Other Hand...

...maybe he'll just drag it out:

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz will not resign under the current "cloud" and would rather push the matter to a vote of the bank's board to clear his name, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

"Mr. Wolfowitz will not resign under this cloud and he will rather put this matter to a full vote," Wolfowitz's lawyer, Robert Bennett, told Reuters.

Why they always drag out the inevitable is beyond me.

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The End Is Nigh

World Bank board negotiating Wolfowitz resignation

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Open Looting

The cavalcade of corruption continues:

A senior lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers nominated by President Bush to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission will receive a $150,000 departing payment from the association when he takes his new government job, which involves enforcing consumer laws against members of the association.

Under ethics rules this constitutes "extraordinary payment'" and [Michael E.] Baroody must recuse himself from decisions involving the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). However:

Mr. Baroody said in the letter that the payment would not prevent him from considering matters involving individual companies that are members of the manufacturers’ association, many of whom are defendants in agency proceedings over defective products or have other business before the commission. Nor would it preclude him from involvement with smaller tr